Ahead of schedule / New London boys, girls take second at Olien Early Bird Invitational

Mark Hazelwood Published: August 28, 2006 12:00 AM

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By MARK HAZELWOODT-G Sports WriterNEW LONDON Both the New London boys and girls cross country teams represented the host school well, as they took home a pair of second-place finishes in the team standings of the Dan Olien Early Bird Invitational.The boys finished with 73 team points, which was 32 points behind first-place Mount Gilead, while the girls finished with 87 team points, 50 points behind first-place Seneca East.The event now is named in Oliens honor, who was the cross country coach before passing away earlier in the summer after a long battle with a brain tumor.Its special, New London boys cross country coach Geoff Geist said. Dan was here for many years, and hes left a legacy here, especially with these kids that are still here running. They respected him and had a lot of good things to say about him, and that means a lot.The Wildcats placed six runners in the top 27 of the boys race, led by Troy Coombs with a time of 17:09.35, good for fourth place. Kyle Anderson finished ninth with a time of 17:36.6, while Brandon Lang was 15th with a 18:20.81. Logan Fannin placed 21st, and Nate Grys and Kyle Cramer were 24th and 27th each, respectively.We ran real well, Geist said. Its good to get a pair of second-place finishes. Troy ran a good race and hes in the low 17s so thats pretty good. Compared to where we were at this point last year, we are way ahead of where we were on the boys side.Black River and Hillsdale were the only other area schools with enough runners for a team score in the boys meet, as the Pirates had six runners finish in the 107-man event. Robert Altenburger took 25th place for the Pirates with a time of 19:02.68. Also running for River were Brian Bush (34th, 19:24), Jim Randolph (58th, 20:00), David Kindall (70, 20:22), Jon Hokes (81st, 20:48), Tae Hyung (88th, 21:07) and Scott Krieder (99th, 21:48).Hillsdale had just one runner place high, with Andy House finishing 42nd with a time of 19:34.99. Other Falcon runners were Parker Selby (115th, 23:40), Ryan Freelon (119th, 24:41), Brian Young (120th, 24:48) and Jeff Stimmell (123rd, 25:47).Mapletons boys runners competed in the open race Saturday, led by Gavin Gotts third-place finish in 19:28.Andy broke the 20-minute mark for the first time today, Hillsdale coach Steve Burns said. I think weve improved. The girls ran awfully well, but I was really pleased with all the kids. We ran well and were improving at the same time, so thats good.For the New London girls, the Wuensch twins again led the way, with Gabrielle winning the event in a time of 20:39.57. Danielle wasnt far behind in fourth place with a time of 21:11.31. The Wildcats had four other runners compete in the field of 118, including Kayla Sendelbach (24th), freshman Jessica Dufner (56th), Christina Wade (68th) and Alicia Perkins (74th).Mapleton and Hillsdale were also the two other schools with runners in the field, as the Mounties and Falcons each had five runners.Katherine Shopbell (50th), Janice Taylor (59th), Alyssa Christian (100th), Ellie Ross (108th), and Kim Heitzman (115th) rounded out the field for Mapleton. Hillsdale was paced by Bethany Young (95th), Sheyanna Paullin (105th), Kaitlin Wagner (106th), Nikki Rumker (111th), and Lacey Shotwell (116th).n Contact Mark Hazelwood, sports writer, at 419-281-0581, ext. 255, or mhazelwood@times-gazette.com.